‘Value-based’ insurance gets people to take their medicine

When insurance plans charge patients less for the medicines that help them most, patients are more likely to take them, according to a new article.

Taking a medicine every day in the hopes that it will prevent some long-range potential health catastrophe—like a heart attack or kidney failure—isn’t easy.

Many people skip doses, or don’t refill their prescriptions on time, or at all. And plenty of studies have shown that the more patients have to pay for those prescriptions, the less likely they are to take them as directed.

In a new article in Health Affairs, researchers report a “value-based insurance design” approach led patients to fill their prescriptions more often.